1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for preparing a vehicle diagnosing program which is used for diagnosing a vehicle via an electronic control unit (ECU) which is mounted on the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has hitherto been known the following art, for example, in the Japanese Published Examined Patent Application No. 76724/1995. Namely, diagnosing programs each of which is prepared for exclusive use by each kind of electronic control unit mounted on a vehicle are all stored in a memory portion of a vehicle diagnosing apparatus. Then, a diagnosing program corresponding to the kind of electronic control unit which is mounted on the vehicle to be diagnosed is called up to thereby perform the diagnosing of the vehicle.
The diagnosing programs to be used in the above-described prior art are prepared by a professional programmer for each kind of electronic control unit by using programming languages such as programming language C, an assembler, or the like. Therefore, when it becomes necessary to modify the diagnosing program due to a change in the specifications of a vehicle as a result of a model change of the vehicle or as a result of an amendment of related regulations, or the like, or when it becomes necessary to newly prepare a diagnosing program which corresponds to a new kind of vehicle, the diagnosing program must be modified, or prepared, by the professional programmer by spending much of his or her time.
In view of the above-described problem, the present invention has an object of providing an apparatus for preparing a diagnosing program in a short period of time even by a person, other than a professional programmer, who has no professional knowledge.